Oh my, I hear you. A year-plus ago I downsized out of the house I’d owned since the eighties — 5000 ft^2 counting the basement and unheated attic — into a condo with well less than half the space. Wife and I gave up half of what we owned, and simple math will tell you we still don’t fit. That was hard enough, but letting go of enough more has been a seriously painful project. Still trying to clear off enough of the dining room table to be able to play games on it…
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Key example - battle spirits saga - game has now been discontinued.
Best case, I play with kids - but it competes with Lorcana time which is something they love. Obscure anime mechs vs Disney.
Worst case I throw it in the bin and take a loss of $200uSD? Maybe more, but who cares? I won’t have time to enjoy this stuff. It’s not like a digital backlog on steam, I literally can’t play it.
Other example is trying to relive past joy. I loved L5R for the friends and the point in time of my life. I can’t recreate that with a game. Why hold on and try to relive something old and the expense of creating a new memory? I could keep one of 15 boxes and find joy there. Keep my tourney winning deck and some other stuff and then trash the rest.
I can throw out old food, I need to be able to throw out other old stuff
This is a healthy perspective which I hope to cultivate when downsizing our home makes sense. I’m still in hoard mode.
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When board game friends have downsized, instead of throwing stuff away, theyve posted to a local boardgame group to see if anybody wanted the stuff for free. Its a win win as you know its going somewhere it will be appreciated
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Hope you’re doing ok out there, @js619
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Thanks man! We’re good; live pretty far north of it but we’re actually down the shore for spring break so we’re in the midst of it. Can see and smell the smoke but no evacuations or flames where we are rn, thankfully.
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So, headed back to the US in September for a couple of weeks work trip - really looking forward to it. I think I miss it….
Going to pop across from LA to Atlanta on the weekend to hit the magic con that is there! Never got to do that when I lived in there……
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With the kids away at summer camp for the next 6 weeks the wife and I took the opportunity to head into NYC with friends. Did a boozy brunch and scored orchestra seats to see the Broadway adaptation of Death Becomes Her (yes, based on the 1992 movie) which was surprisingly fantastic and well acted, especially for a matinee. Lots of big Broadway names in it but no one I knew, not having been to a show since pre-Covid.
Did drinks afterwards across the street at The View, a revolving restaurant ala Windows on the World, albeit only the 48th floor. Easy drive home afterwards with enough time left to order a pie and watch a few episodes of The Better Sister on Prime, which I find meh but the wife enjoys somewhat, despite yelling at the tv re the courtroom procedure.
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Hey mate, checking in to see if you are okay? Sometimes I hit the log on page I wonder if there is a hidden message there…
Want to make sure you are doing alright…
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This is just to say
I have eaten all the food in the house
Except the celery
I know it was meant to feed a family of four
But it was midnight
And what is food for?
When you go to the store
Could you get more cup noodles
(Not the spicy kind you bought once four years ago)
And trail mix
And apples
And protein shakes
And orange juice?
Also
I have eaten the celery.
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Hope that everyone is making good choices tonight. Here’s to all us all having a healthy, safe, and sane new year.
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My new year’s wish is that Trump and Putin have career-ending strokes on the very same day.
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The tail end of this year has been very up and down, and I would very much like a calmer and better 2026, please. I know it’s a lot to ask for.
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I did not expect to feel this justified this soon.
It’s not a great feeling!
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Switched jiujitsu gyms this week. Loved my old place but they didn’t offer enough classes for the kids.
Anyway, I suck at jiujitsu. Thought I was decent at the old place but I’m like a brand new white belt at the new place.
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So, whilst I was in the US my Dad passed away in Australia. I managed to organise a work trip back in Aus at the time, though he died whilst I was on the plane and didn’t get to see him. He was in a coma fighting off infections and what not so I kinda said goodbye over the phone before hand. Pretty crappy, but at the same time, at least it was quick. About 3 months between healthy and traveling around the country, to dead. He was 70.
Fast forward to now and my step mum dropped off two boxes of his stuff to my house - things she thought I would want - as she is now getting remarried to a lovely new bloke called Rex. I am happy for her, I don’t think she would do well being alone.
That said, all of his life, all of his stuff has basically been reduced to a couple of boxes and then has been handed out to people across the family. It had some old report cards and letters I wrote (parents were divorced), as well as a bunch of his work service awards for years of service, a couple of model boats (wtf) and just some other stuff. Likely sentimental, but they mean almost nothing to me.
I was supposed to get the heirloom family bible, however one of his sisters snatched that up and is being a bitch about it. If it is so important to her, she can have it. I have never seen it, though it was supposed to be passed down to first sons.
Which got my thinking - is that what is in store for all of us? Possessions in a box left with ungrateful children / family members?
Linked to my post above, all I can think about is to get rid of more of my stuff….
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I’m very sorry for your loss–I know it must have been a little while ago, but it’s still an awful thing to deal with. And I’m also sorry about the bullshit with your aunt. Sometimes family brings out the worst in people.
To your question at the end about what’s in store for all of us, my short, inadequate answer is: it depends … ?
I’ve found the importance of “stuff” dwindles over time. I took a bunch of my dad’s stuff when he passed a few years ago. Some items remain because they remind me of him, like a picture from his kitchen and, coincidentally, a model ship. I also took a bunch of books because we had the space and parting with anything then pained me, especially old books I remember on the family bookshelf growing up.
Wife and I recently cleaned out a lot of clutter, and almost all the books went, along with a lot of the other stuff. I wasn’t exactly ungrateful for them, but we wanted the space, and I didn’t need the books to have fond memories of my dad.
All that to say: I think whoever survives us determines what’s in store after we go and whether they’re grateful for it. And the belongings left behind might not matter. Hopefully, what those people remember and feel about us does matter and brings them some sense of gratitude.
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Yeah, I expect to leave little of value in the stuff category; if I’ve had an impact, it’ll be perpetuated by people having been happier or more engaged, and the consequences of them having been, for a time, more trusting and willing to invest, emotionally and materially, in their community.
Come to think of it, I don’t know what material legacy I would care about leaving. I think I’m pretty much okay with the idea that I’ll be dead, and the world ought not be tailored to me at all then.
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Thanks for the thoughts all.
having come back from holidays I cleaned out a few of my spots, but moved my dads old stuff to the shed for future me to deal with.
I feel better with less old stuff of my own I haven’t touched in 5+ years
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Many moons ago, I was on the wargames forum on BGG, and I laughed at all the old codgers who were busy saying “Covid’s a hoax, and if I die, my kids will appreciate my impeccable selection of WWII wargames where you get to play as the Nazis, and if they don’t, they’ll sell them for loads of money.” because, in my observation, most of your stuff is only important to you. All the time and import of your stuff is your time and import, and no-one else’s, and your family will keep bits and pieces, but most of it will literally go into a bin. I’ve seen (and benefited from) sales before where a surviving spouse has sold off their dead spouse’s collection of whatever, with no real idea of what it is or what it’s worth, just to get rid of it, so they can move on. I’ve had family die and got little to remember them by as ‘closer’ relatives scoop things up, sometimes by reflex. I’ve had friends die and ended up with nothing, when they promised me this or that keepsake.
It’s just stuff. People think it’s important, so they take it or keep it. But mostly it’s a hook to hang your memories on.
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